Seven years ago, Kickstarter was born. Over its lifetime, the platform has helped fund roughly 100,000 creative projects that otherwise would have remained pipe dreams to their founders.

Then there are those mega-rounds going to VC-backed startups. Although this activity cooled in the fourth quarter of 2015 -- down to $11.4 billion, from $20.3 billion in the third quarter -- VC funding has helped tech startups remain private.